Today, humankind is completely dependent on energy. Energy is indispensable for growth and life on Earth, and it is also of key importance for living comfortably – for heating, lighting, cooling, ventilation, operation of machines and appliances, for transport, etc. The major energy-generating source is the sun, sending the energy to Earth and making life on our planet possible. This energy is free of charge and without negative effects. However, we only know how to use and convert a small ...

This research project focuses on how decisions made by practitioners, articulating rural housing in Sub-Sahara Africa, contribute to the decreasing level of self-reliance inhabitants have regarding their housing. Multiple case studies on Mt. Elgon proved that inhabitants have a significantly higher self-reliance level, comparing traditional to modern housing. To study this phenomenon in practice and to articulate suitable design support the Design Research Methodology was chosen. The research...

Waterfront Analysis and Design Comparative Report of Beijing, Suzhou and Yinchuan systematically summarizes the research and planning cases. Conventional concepts and strategies concerning urban planning implemented in Beijing, Suzhou and Yinchuan have long been established, and the construction of many areas in these cities have been widely finished. Under such circumstances, based on analyses of the three cities and several typical cases of waterfront planning, this book breaks through the ...

Recently, the implementation of prefabricated housing (PH) has become prevalent in China to achieve sustainability while ensuring green construction, innovative products, and higher quality. However, numerous challenges arise, such as the overrun costs, inexperienced workers, and the inefficient management process. High transaction costs (TCs) occur in the PH project supply chain since additional efforts are consumed for overcoming these challenges. This study aims to seek insights into TCs o...

Against the backdrop of an increasing need for healthcare, staff shortages and relatively high rates of sick leave, understanding of wellbeing (comfort and health) of hospital workers is important. This research aims to provide a contribution, through a mixed-methods approach, with broad and in-depth insights into comfort and health. Therefore, data have been collected from questionnaires, building inspections, interviews, and photos, and analysed with several techniques.

Personal, work, and...

The aim of this PhD research was to propose an approach to public housing management (HM) by LAs that may bring about maintenance and lead to better housing quality in Ghana. To do that, four research questions were addressed. (1) How is housing management by LAs organised, and how have challenges therein affected the quality of public housing? (2) What factors can be distinguished to

describe the organisation of and assess performance in HM? (3) What lessons can be learned from the organisat...

The use of outriggers in tall buildings is a common practice to reduce response under dynamic loading. Viscous dampers have been implemented between the outrigger and the perimeter columns, to reduce vibrations without increasing the stiffness of the structure. This damped outrigger concept has been implemented for reducing vibrations produced by strong winds. However, its behaviour under strong earthquakes has been not yet properly investigated. Strong earthquakes introduce larger amount of ...